A field guide to Chester’s Town Meeting Day bond votes

By Shawn Cunningham
© 2025 Telegraph Publishing LLC

In addition to the approving the town’s $4.2 million budget and borrowing to purchase equipment and do paving, Chester voters will be asked to give vote to two bond issues totaling a little over $4.1 million. While these may look like a burden for taxpayers, if the estimates are correct, property owners may never see the impact on their property tax bills.

The bonds are for improvements to the town’s sewer system ($2.9 million) and purchase of the solar field on Route 103 north of the Stone Village ($1.14 million.) Two presentations were made at the Feb. 19 Select Board meeting to explain what the spending would yield and who would pay for them.

Replacing sewer pumping station, repairing sewers

The $2.9 million sewer loan is set to replace pipes that carry sewage from some parts of town on its way to the treatment facility near the American Legion on Route 103 south. The funding will also replace the sewage pumping station on First Street near where it intersects Green Mountain Turnpike. In addition to replacing the pumping station, the plan is to raise its elevation since it lies in an area that has flooded several times in recent years.

Dufresne engineer Naomi Johnson explained the work and showed photos of sections of the 50-year-old pipes that have become corroded or restricted and need to be replaced soon. She said the goal of the project — which would be done in 2026 — is to ensure reliable wastewater collection and pumping. If the force main fails,  sewage will have to be collected in trucks and driven to the treatment plant, which will add enormously to the repair cost according to Town Manager Julie Hance.

Water and Sewer Superintendent Jeff Holden has spoken about the need to make repairs for a number of years.

Johnson noted that the work would be paid for with a 30-year loan from the state’s Clean Water Revolving Fund, which charges a 2 percent administrative fee, but also offers subsidies that would be in the form of forgiving a portion of the loan. Johnson estimated those at $847,000, which would bring the repayment amount to about $2.1 million or $12.52 per month per user over the life of the loan.

Hance told The Telegraph on Tuesday that the town will be looking for grant funding to further reduce the amount it will need to borrow for the projects.

The water and sewer departments are independent of the town’s budget and supported by the fees paid by those systems’ users. Under state law, the departments don’t have the authority to borrow money and so the town – which has that authority – must do it in their stead. The users are expected to pay for the improvements to the system through increases to their fees, but the town is the guarantor for paying for those loans. Thus, all registered voters can weigh in on whether or not to borrow for the improvements, even though only users pay for them.

In the past, there have been discussions about having non-users chip in to maintain the water and sewer systems. The argument for this – often put forward by large scale water/sewer users – has been that the system is a inducement for businesses to move to Chester. The argument against has been that property owners outside the village have to maintain their own wells and septic systems without help from town.

Buying the solar field

Unlike the sewer work, the bond for buying the solar field is not an unavoidable project but one the Select Board sees it as an opportunity. When the field was built on town land near the Jeffrey Well building, the developer included an option for the town to buy it after seven years. The town exercised that option a few years ago and since then has been working on getting the owner to come up with appraisals and operating information needed for negotiating a sale. Two members of the board – Lee Gustafson and Tim Roper – have experience in the solar industry and have participated in the process on the town’s behalf.

At last Wednesday’s meeting, Roper gave a presentation that explained how the operation of the field can pay for the bond to purchase it. He said that the field has three entities that take power from it and pay the owner, a company called Greenbacker. Aside from the Town of Chester, the “offtakers” are St. Johnsbury Academy and the Town of Pittsford.  He said he had worked out a spreadsheet taking into account that income and had made conservative assumptions about maintenance expenses and declining power as the systems age and still came to the conclusion that income from the field could cover the payments on the 10-year bond.

At the end of 10 years, even continuing with the offtaker contracts for discounted power, the field could generate around $140,000 income for the town’s general fund. At the end of the St. Johnsbury Academy and Pittsford contracts, the field could generate enough power to handle the needs of town government functions with some left over for the schools or other entities.

Roper also noted that the solar panels are warranted for 25 years, but there are many much older panels (including those operating in space) that continue to generate power. As for recycling when the panels are no longer viable, Roper said they are made of glass, silicon, gold silver, aluminum and other valuable materials. The problem today is that very few solar panels have reached the point of not generating enough power so the industry to recycle them is in its infancy.

The sewer system loan and the solar field bond will be voted by Australian ballot from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday March 4 at Town Hall, 556 Elm St.